According to the latest released Federal Communications Commission (Federal Communications Commission, FCC) white paper on International spectrum, an unlicensed spectrum or a permit-free spectrum (unlicensed spectrum) resource is greater than a licensed spectrum resource. The unlicensed spectrum includes a frequency band used for an industrial, scientific and medical (ISM, Industrial, scientific and medical) device or the like. For example, there are three frequency bands 902-928 MHz, 2400-2484.5 MHz, and 5725-5850 MHz in the United States of America, and 2.4 GHz is an ISM frequency band shared by countries. Main technologies used in the 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band are: wireless fidelity (WiFi, Wireless Fidelity) or wireless local area network (WLAN, wireless local network), Bluetooth, Zigbee (Zigbee), and the like. WiFi is based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 standards, for example, 802.11 a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, and 802.11ac. WiFi generally uses the 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band and the 5 GHz frequency band. For example, the 802.11ac may use a 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum. In Europe and Japan, ranges of frequencies that can be used by the 802.11 ac include 5170 MHz-5330 MHz and 5490-5710 MHz. In addition to the foregoing frequency ranges, a frequency range of 5710-5730 MHz is also supported in the United States of America. 802.11ac channelization (channelization) may support bandwidths of 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and 160 MHz.
The unlicensed spectrum is shared by many users, and the users may use different radio access technologies (RAT, radio access technology), for example, LTE, WiFi, and Bluetooth (Bluetooth). Before transmission, LTE, WiFi, and Bluetooth devices using the unlicensed spectrum need to first listen to whether the spectrum is idle, that is, “listen before talk (LBT, Listen before Talk)”, to avoid interference to another user who is using the unlicensed spectrum. There also is a corresponding specification for a maximum occupation time after a user acquires the unlicensed spectrum. The user needs to release the unlicensed spectrum after using the spectrum for a particular time, and start to contend for the unlicensed spectrum after the user is idle for a particular time, so as to provide a fair competition opportunity for all users to use the unlicensed spectrum.
However, currently in the prior art, there is a lack of a corresponding processing mechanism after an unlicensed spectrum resource is released.